Posted in: In the Park In the Park: Willard Park

One mile east of downtown Indianapolis on Washington Street, you’ll find Willard Park.  The land of this eleven-acre park had many identities in its history, but has always played an important role in uniting the...

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Posted in: Sunday Ads Sunday Adverts: Iceman Cometh (with Coal for your Stocking)

Coupon book recently for sale on Amazon.com Irvington Ice & Coal Company Icemen and coalmen made door-to-door deliveries by wagon or truck in the days when the Irvington Ice and Coal Company began its operation...

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Posted in: Sunday Ads Sunday Adverts: Long gone Regal Guitar Mfg. STILL has the perfect gift for you!

I wonder what name they finally settled on! Advertisement from early 1901. Probably from a newspaper. eBay Regal Manufacturing Company was a division of the Wulschner-Stewart Music Company. Emil Wulschner (b. 1847)  immigrated to Indianapolis from...

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Posted in: In the Park In the Park: JTV Hill Park

A cold wind whipped through the bare trees as I walked the perimeter of JTV Hill Park.  There was no denying it: winter had arrived in the Circle City.  Temperatures are dropping, Indy Parks remain...

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Posted in: At Your Leisure At Your Leisure: A Night of Theater

This exterior shot from the 1967 Butler yearbook must have been taken shortly after completion due to the fresh pavement and lack of landscaping (Image: Butler University) An annual holiday tradition takes the stage when...

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Posted in: Sunday Ads Sunday Adverts: Panacea for a Plethora of Problems

Are your eyes (and waist) still bulging from your Thanksgiving feast? Put on a little weight? Caught a sniffle from the crew sitting at the kids’ table? Got a case of the holiday blues? 100...

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Posted in: In the Park In The Park: Christian Park

Welcome to Christian Park on Indy’s southeast side As trees begin to drop the last of their crisp leaves and the sun sets ever earlier, there’s no denying it: winter has descended upon the Circle...

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Posted in: Misc Mondays Misc. Monday: Reminisces of an Ayres Christmas

Guest Author: Mary Jane Teeters-Eichacher For seventy years, from 1922 to 1992, the place to celebrate holiday traditions in Indianapolis was L. S. Ayres & Co. Animated window displays drew crowds of fascinated onlookers to...

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Posted in: Vintage Vittles Sunday Adverts: Thanksgiving Love and Lard

Vintage Meat Recipe Book, 1946… an Adventure in Fat! There are some history enthusiasts who yearn to recreate the “good old days.” These intrepid time travelers long to capture the mindset of an ancestor… feel...

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Posted in: Misc Mondays Misc. Monday: Early Indy High Schools

Image: HI collection As a respite from the seemingly constant negative news about education and schools, we reflect, if only briefly, to our city’s early success as a place with beloved and highly regarded schools....

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Posted in: Sunday Ads Sunday Adverts: Black Friday 100 Years Ago

Do you think “Black Friday” shopping fervor is a recent invention? Think Again! While the earliest known use of “Black Friday” (specifically referring to shopping on the day after Thanksgiving) dates to 1961, the term has...

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Posted in: In the Park In the Park: Skiles Test Nature Park

Welcome to Skiles Test Nature Park Just across the street from Woollens Garden you’ll find another of the city’s most primitive parks, Skiles Test Nature Park.  There’s no better place to take in the sites...

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Posted in: At Your Leisure At Your Leisure: Rubbing Elbows with Indy’s Elite at The Marott Hotel

An early postcard showing the Marott Hotel and Meridian Street Bridge. (Image: eBay) Today’s visitors to the Circle City have a wide array of lodging options when looking for a place to spend the night....

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Posted in: Sunday Ads Sunday Adverts: What Is It!?

Here are your hints: – 100 years ago – Cold and flu season – Epidemics – Bugs – Funeral homes – Outhouses Answer: Behold the Formacone disinfectant and (peee-yoooo!) deodorizer. Very soon the windows must...

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Posted in: Sunday Ads Sunday Adverts: Hoosiery

Smooth Moves, Real Silk! Ladies (and gentlemen, too)… imagine an item of clothing so important… so luxurious… that a personal, to-your-door representative would arrive at your home to consult with you on the latest trends,...

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Posted in: Indianapolis Collected Indianapolis Collected: Yar, there’s a pirate’s chest of gold on Monument Circle

For so long as most Indianapolis residents can remember, there has always been one “hot spot” on North Meridian where the mercury was guaranteed to rise even when temperatures were falling in the rest of...

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Posted in: In the Park In the Park: Woollens Garden

The northeast section of Interstate 465 is one of Indianapolis’s busiest roads.  Travelers speed through it on their morning commute, perhaps unaware that one of the City’s most picturesque parks lies beneath this road, just...

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Posted in: Misc Mondays Misc. Monday: Move to a New Subdivision! In 1916

Perusing the pages of early 1900’s Indianapolis newspapers, you will occasionally come across an announcement for a new suburb–plotted out, ostensibly, by some entrepreneurial soul. It frequently appears with an accompanying map, such as the...

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Posted in: Sunday Ads Sunday Adverts: When Indy put the “Fun” in Funeral

  Ads from the 1914 Indiana Funeral Directors Convention, Indianapolis Star Funeral directors, morticians, undertakers… They get a bad rap. Admit it. You might cringe or giggle when you meet one at a cocktail party....

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Posted in: At Your Leisure At Your Leisure: Theater Under the Stars

Butler students clowning around on the stage of the newly completed Brown Theater in 1955. (Image: Butler University) Life just seems better outdoors. During summer months, it is always enjoyable to eat dinner on one...

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